Facebook Announces New Standards for Guns

Last week we told you thatÂ Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense andÂ Mayors Against Illegal Guns were pressuring Facebook’s legal team to ban gun sales on Facebook and Instagram, and today we have Facebook’s answer.Â

Facebook Announcement

Facebook, at its heart, is about helping people connect and communicate. Because of the diversity of people and cultures on our services, we know that people sometimes post or share things that may be controversial or objectionable. We work hard to find a balance between enabling people to express themselves about topics that are important to them, and creating an environment that is safe and respectful.

This balance is important to how we view commercial activity on Facebook or Instagram. We have strict rules about how businesses can use our advertising tools. For example, we do not permit advertising for illegal drugs, tobacco products, prescription pharmaceuticals, weapons, and several other products and services, and restrict advertising for products such as alcohol, adult products, and gaming. In all cases, we have systems in place to review and remove advertising that violates our policies, is false, deceptive, or misleading.

Of course, most of our tools are free to use, and many people and organizations use them to establish a presence on Facebook, including to promote commercial transactions. While people can’t use our services to actually sell things to each other, they can set up a Page or make an occasional post to their Timeline to find a roommate, sell a home, or solicit contributions for a church or nonprofit organization. Just like posting on a bulletin board at a supermarket or community center, these activities may be considered commercial, but we treat this type of sharing like any other type of sharing on our services – and we respond to reports when something violates our Community Standards.

People sometimes use our free tools to discuss products that are regulated or controversial. In some cases they promote these products for sale or use, even though it’s not possible to complete a sale on Facebook or Instagram. While we’ve recently heard specific concerns from people about offers for the private sales of firearms, this is one of many areas where we face a difficult challenge balancing individuals’ desire to express themselves on our services, and recognizing that this speech may have consequences elsewhere.

Today, we are introducing a series of new educational and enforcement efforts for people discussing the private sale of regulated items:

Any time we receive a report on Facebook about a post promoting the private sale of a commonly regulated item, we will send a message to that person reminding him or her to comply with relevant laws and regulations. We will also limit access to that post to people over the age of 18.

We will require Pages that are primarily used by people to promote the private sale of commonly regulated goods or services to include language that clearly reminds people of the importance of understanding and complying with relevant laws and regulations, and limit access to people over the age of 18 or older if required by applicable law.

We will provide special in-app education on Instagram for those who search for sales or promotions of firearms.

We will not permit people to post offers to sell regulated items that indicate a willingness to evade or help others evade the law. For example, private sellers of firearms in the U.S. will not be permitted to specify â€œno background check required,â€ nor can they offer to transact across state lines without a licensed firearms dealer. We have worked with a number of individuals and organizations on the development of these efforts, which will be implemented and enforced in the coming weeks. We are grateful in particular for the advice offered by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Americans for Responsible Solutions, Sandy Hook Promise, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and Moms Demand Action, which helped us develop an approach for the private sale of firearms. We also appreciate the feedback provided by the Facebook Safety Advisory Board.

As always, we encourage people who see anything that violates our policies to report it to us using the tools found throughout our services. Facebook and Instagram will continue to remove content, and notify law enforcement where appropriate, when we are notified about things shared on our services that suggest a direct, credible risk to othersâ€™ safety. We will also continue to strictly enforce our advertising policies.

We believe these collective efforts represent the right approach in balancing people’s desire to express themselves while promoting a safe, responsible community.

Could have been worse… limiting to 18+ doesn’t particularly bother me, not because I think all kids are idiots… I know that to be far from the truth – but because in the end you have to be 18 to complete the sale anyway, so it’s not of much harm. Only place I could see it being an issue is a kid ‘stalking’ a page for a parent who doesn’t use Facebook, but seeing as a lot of kids probably don’t even put in a correct birth date anyway, that group is likely fairly limited.

Requiring pages to post legal reminders is ‘meh’… I don’t see it being productive in any way, and I could see it being perhaps mildly intrusive, but it wouldn’t seem to interfere with anything in any way.

What really irks me is simply their wording… throwing around words like ‘education’ almost seem to group gun folks as uneducated and irresponsible people who need to be ‘educated.’ That’s just stupid.

The only place where the word “educated” is used during this posting is in the beginning of the introduction to Facebook’s new regulations. The context that the word “educational” is used is not to belittle gun owners. The context of the word “educational” in this sentence is to inform people that Facebook is trying to educate everyone on the laws and regulations surrounding firearm sales and transfers.

I am a long time gun owner, current CFP holder and I also practice my concealed weapons privilege often. That being said, I often find people shopping for firearms, as well as trying to sell firearms, unaware of some of the more important regulations surrounding guns. One of the most common misconceptions that I come across is the age to purchase a handgun in Utah. Another law that is often miss interpreted is the law surrounding the transfer of firearms between state lines.

Being that Facebook wrote what they just wrote concerning the sale of controlled items, I applaud them for not caving to certain public opinions. My opinion on the regulations Facebook just introduced is they should have been there all along.

Facebook didn’t prohibit the advertisement of firearms at all, they only made the act more responsible and organized.

There’s not really a change, I no longer use FB, so I could be wrong. It sounds like they are trying to be like Starbucks, asking to stay out of the middle of the issue, yet remind people that there are laws covering gun sales, and they don’t want to be a party to people trying to break the law.